


these words tell our stories

by ohmytheon



Series: soulmates tattoo drabbles [6]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon Compliant, F/M, Soulmate Tattoo Mark, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-08
Updated: 2017-02-08
Packaged: 2018-09-22 23:24:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9629681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmytheon/pseuds/ohmytheon
Summary: His question on her skin warned her of a terrifying future; her answer on his body told him of a forgotten past; and together, they form the present, dire situation.





	

The words wrap around her forearm like a twisted band when she is five, speaking of horrors that she does not know yet. The moment she finds them, she goes still and very quiet. Lah'mu is a peaceful place and she’s had a very strange few years, but she knows, even at a young age, that these words mean that things are going to go very wrong. It’s very scare and she doesn’t know what to do, so she pulls on the rest of her clothes and goes about her morning chores, pretending the damning words don’t exist.

She doesn’t tell her parents and she has no one else to tell. It’s hard to keep them a secret, but as much as she clings to the comfort and company of her mother and father, they are busy trying to rebuild their lives in peace and secrecy. Jyn is good at keeping secrets like her parents. She’s good at not saying what doesn’t need to be said.

But when she is eight and she sees a ship scouring over the planet towards their little place that they’ve made home, the words come back to haunt her. They’re burning on her arm, like their being tattooed on her all over again, demanding to be noticed. Her lungs burn as she runs and her lips feel blue from the cold, but she doesn’t whisper her fears as she and her parents made the arrangements to leave.

She thinks about telling her father when he pauses to pull her into a warm hug and says that everything he does, he does to protect her. He needs to hear the words. He needs to know the truth. Her parents act as if they will all see one another soon – as if this will pass and the Empire will merely let them be – for her sake alone. She knows they’re lying though; she knows that their wrong.

Because when she was five, her soulmate tattoo mark appeared, and it asked, _“When was the last time you were in contact with your father?”_ It’s quite possibly the most unromantic thing in the world and extraordinarily confusing for a child that saw her father on a daily basis. But now that she’s eight, she knows what it means. She knows what the Empire is going to do to her family.

And instead of saying the words, instead of telling her father that, yes, his daughter has a soulmate out there somewhere, Jyn merely says, “Yes, Papa,” that she understands, and she does – more than he will ever know. She doesn’t want to dash away what little hope he has left. But he’s gone and she’s gone and he doesn’t know and she doesn’t know when she’ll see him next or if she ever does. It’s a very terrifying and lonely thought for an eight year-old to know. She wishes the soulmate mark had never come to her.

*

Cassian is much older when he gets his soulmate tattoo mark. He’s twenty, full-swing into the Rebellion, and thoughts of having a soulmate are so far out of his mind that it’s possible the marks don’t exist to him. Most people have their marks by his age, and if they don’t, well, they’re in the middle of a war. People die before they meet their other half. It doesn’t make him sad. It doesn’t make him feel anything, to be honest. It’s just another fact of life.

So of course he gets one when he least expects it and has accepted that he will most likely either die too early or be alone and surly for the rest of his natural life. He’s fine with that. Fate has other plans.

The soulmate tattoo smaller than hers and on his ribcage, so he can easily keep it hidden. There aren’t a lot of moments when his chest is bare to other people. It hits him like a punch in the side, something that should warn him about who will say the words, right when he’s pinned down by a group of Imperial soldiers. It’s very inopportune and he thinks that a blaster might’ve grazed him at first, but when he collapses against the wall he was using as coverage, he notices that there aren’t any burn marks on his jacket.

“Andor, you alright?” a fellow soldier calls to him.

“Yeah, I’m–” Cassian sucks in a deep breath. It _burns_. “I’m not hit.”

Still hiding, Cassian slips one arm out of his jacket and jerks on his shirt, tugging it up so that he can examine the painful area. When he sees three little words printed on him in precise lettering, he’s more confused than shocked. He doesn’t recognize what they are at first or what it means for him. When the truth finally hits him, he feels the first spark of fear that he has felt in a very long time.

 _“Fifteen years ago.”_ These are the first words his soulmate will speak to him. He has a soulmate. Better yet, he has some sort of future. He doesn’t know how to make sense of it. As a member in the intelligence community, he knows that his lifespan is limited. He never looked forward to his own future, just the future of the Rebellion. Something from the past will influence his future. This is something new and his and utterly unfathomable. He doesn’t want it.

*

When the man Mon Mothma referred to as Captain Cassian Andor stepped into the light, Jyn knew what kind of man he was right away: someone that she would not like. He had an intensity about him that suggested he had seen and done many things, not much unlike her, his arms folded across his chest in barely contained tension.

And when he said the words that had haunted her for so long – that she had been waiting for, that she knew would drag her into the light one day – “When was the last time you were in contact with your father?” her breath hitched. He spoke the words. His question marred her skin. This damn Rebellion that she wanted no part of and this man that would cause her nothing but problems, and he was her soulmate, of all things.

So Jyn gritted her teeth and replied, “Fifteen years ago,” her eyes locked on his and carefully watched his reaction. He was good, but then he was a spy, so she should’ve expected no less from him. No one else in the room would notice the way his eyes slightly widened or the way his fingers dug into his arm, but she did because, well, maybe a part of her already knew him. She refused to look away in this moment, challenging him, questioning him, but he returned it right back.

This changed everything, didn’t it? Now she couldn’t say no and he couldn’t leave her behind. Now they had each other, whether they liked it or not. It felt like a terrible beginning, but also a relieving end. The wait was over. They were here.


End file.
